Edmonton city council looking for ways to help smartphone-less drivers pay for parking

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 7:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

The City of Edmonton is inactive moving up with its program to discontinue each EPark machines by the extremity of July but councillors say the metropolis needs to find ways to marque the modulation easier for radical implicit the coming months.

Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette introduced a question astatine Tuesday's metropolis assembly gathering designed to dilatory down the process of getting escaped of the machines and examine ways of accommodating radical who similar to wage for parking with cash.

"I'm getting a batch of calls from folks who are seniors successful my country oregon radical who don't person smartphones and they're wondering, however is this going to enactment for me?" helium told reporters connected Tuesday.

The metropolis announced successful March that each EPark machines would beryllium removed from streets successful phases, starting this month. 

The city's declaration with the vendor ends this twelvemonth and the machines are nary longer compliant with the city's recognition paper processing exertion due to the fact that they lone let transactions with magnetic stripe, not spot and PIN. 

Replacing each the parking machines would outgo much than $2.8 cardinal truthful assembly decided successful the autumn of 2024 to get escaped of them and determination to a mobile-only parking outgo system. 

Once the machines are gone, drivers indispensable wage for parking by scanning a QR codification with a compartment phone, utilizing the HotSpot Parking app oregon website, oregon by telephone (but lone if utilizing an existing HotSpot account). 

"There evidently are ways for them to pay, but it seems really, truly roundabout," Paquette said Tuesday.

"It's similar asking radical to bash 12 things earlier you tin unfastened a doorway to get into a building."

Ward sipiwiyiniwak Coun. Sarah Hamilton said during Tuesday's gathering that she had besides heard from acrophobic seniors.

She besides said she was alarmed to larn that 60 per cent of each nationalist parking transactions presently spell done the EPark machines, which judge currency and recognition cards.

"The question I person is if this ample radical of radical inactive hasn't moved to the app, what has been the hang-up for them since we've had the EPark app for astir 10 years?" she said.

City officials told Hamilton that app usage continues to grow, but Edmontonians usage the machines due to the fact that they are determination and the metropolis expects radical to power erstwhile that enactment is gone.

Michaela Gatto told CBC News she paid for parking connected Wednesday greeting utilizing an EPark instrumentality successful Old Strathcona.

"I deliberation it's conscionable much straightforward," she said. 

Another driver, Mark Wilson, said helium paid for parking utilizing the QR codification option.

He said helium understands the rationale for removing the aged machines but worries however radical without smartphones volition fare erstwhile they are gone.

"For the bulk of radical it'll work, but we are limiting a percent of the colonisation that don't person entree to that technology," helium said.

City assembly passed 2 motions connected Tuesday asking metropolis officials to present parking-related reports to assembly successful the autumn — 1 connected however to money keeping oregon upgrading city-managed parking infrastructure and different connected connection strategies, app updates and acquisition efforts.

Paquette said by the extremity of the modulation period, the metropolis volition person amended information connected app adoption and wherever radical are inactive struggling with parking payments.

"Once we recognize wherever that request is, past we tin astir apt respond appropriately with alternate options," helium told CBC News successful an interrogation connected Wednesday.

In the meantime, helium said, radical who inactive similar paying with currency tin bash truthful astatine immoderate backstage parking lots.